Mike Liang wasn’t always at the top of his math class. While growing up, he attended a competitive middle school for gifted children in Toronto and often struggled with imposter syndrome, feeling like he didn’t quite measure up to his peers.
However, rather than backing away from the challenge, Mike changed his perspective. In high school, he stopped competing for grades and started studying math simply for the joy of learning.
That shift in mindset was a defining moment that would eventually lead him to become one of the Faculty of Science’s leading undergraduate researchers in mathematics.
From high school student to undergraduate researcher
Mike was accepted into uOttawa’s joint honours mathematics and economics program and he hit the ground running. Before his first year had even begun, he was awarded an Undergraduate Research Scholarship (URS), a unique program that gives Faculty of Science students the opportunity to gain hands-on research experience in a lab over the summer before even starting university.
Through the URS, Mike was matched with his supervisor, Professor François-Michel Boire. Boire’s mentorship was pivotal for Mike, shaping both his academic journey and career aspirations.
“Dr. Boire is very involved and cares a lot about his students,” says Mike. “He introduced me to career paths I didn’t even know existed, like policy work or central banking at the Bank of Canada.”
That initial opportunity quickly led to another. Encouraged by Boire, Mike applied for the Undergraduate Science Research Opportunity (USRO) program, which allows undergraduate students to conduct a research project under the supervision of a uOttawa professor.
What started as a single summer research internship after high school was beginning to evolve into something much bigger.
Tracking housing bubbles
Under Boire’s supervision, Mike’s USRO project focused on developing the Canadian Housing Observatory, an interactive digital platform that analyzes housing price data and publishes exuberance indicators to monitor real estate markets across Canada.
A housing bubble occurs when home prices rise to unsustainable levels. While factors such as limited housing supply, strong demand and low borrowing costs can push prices higher, a bubble can also occur because of exuberance (buyers’ and investors’ optimism that prices will continue to rise). These expectations fuel even more buying and push prices higher than they would otherwise be.
Mike analyzed provincial and metropolitan real estate data dating back to 2005 to identify when these periods of exuberance tend to begin and end. He found that they often align with major economic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or oil price shocks.
“We also looked at how different housing markets move together. If multiple regions behave the same way, it becomes a national concern rather than a local one, which matters a lot for policy decisions.”
The findings could help policymakers better understand risk in Canada’s housing market. Although housing prices across Canada often seem to rise and fall together, the study found that regional markets can behave differently when accounting for factors such as interest rates, income and housing supply. This suggests that housing challenges may not look the same in every part of the country. Understanding these regional differences could help guide decisions on housing policies, such as mortgage qualification rules and other measures to support a stable housing market.
Moving forward with confidence
Mike’s work has already earned national recognition. He was selected as one of just ten national finalists for the Bank of Canada Undergraduate Student Paper Award and, in May 2026, he presented his findings at the annual Canadian Economics Association (CEA) conference in Vancouver.
For Mike, the CEA conference was both a learning experience and an opportunity to connect with researchers working at the forefront of economic policy. He received valuable feedback from economists at the Bank of Canada, critiques that are helping him refine his methodology and identify new directions for future research.
“Sharing my research in a conference setting has been both inspiring and motivating,” says Mike. “It also made me more interested in pursuing policy-driven work.”
Looking back, Mike credits his success to a willingness to take chances on opportunities that initially felt intimidating.
“Don’t doubt yourself. There are so many great opportunities, but you won’t find them if you don’t try. For me, getting research experience through the URS was a turning point. It helped me realize how much I enjoy this kind of work.”